Change with Debian's Non-Free Firmware Policy

[darry1966]

Debian Linux accepts proprietary firmware in major policy change

Instead of being made entirely of free software, the next release of Debian Linux, Bookworm, will include proprietary drivers and firmware.

www.zdnet.com

Debian now adding Non-Free firmware in its main images instead of special non-free images.

 

[forester]

I do not think this could have taken place should Ian still be alive.

 

[Condobloke]

Who was Ian ?

 

[wizardfromoz]

Ian Ashley Murdock (April 28, 1973 – December 28, 2015) was an American software engineer, known for being the founder of the Debian project and Progeny Linux Systems, a commercial Linux company.

 

[craigevil]

Personally I think it is great. It makes installing Debian just that much easier for normal people(newbies).
Firmware has always been in the Debian non-free repo, all they will be doing is adding it to the install media.

 

[kc1di]

One thing that has kept Debian from being adopted by more people was the daunting task especially for newer users to be able to easily install non-free hardware drivers up front. This should address some of that hesitance to use Debian. It's a great solid distro but many shied away from it because of this very thing. There will be a lot of arguments about software feedom, etc. But in the end think it's a good move.

 

[Deleted member 108694]

Who was Ian ?

Ian Murdock founder of Debian - Debbie was his wife's name at the time in 1993 I think - so put them both together - Debian

 

[Deleted member 108694]

I do not think this could have taken place should Ian still be alive.

Kind of hard to do when one hangs oneself - sad

 

[forester]

Without getting into the veracity of police reports and the politics of GNU/Linux, I must agree it was an unfortunate loss for FOSS and the users of it.

 

[KGIII]

I'll add that there are some folks who think it was more than a bit conspiratorial - and I add this to put it to rest here on Linux.org. Those who wish can look online to see what they can find.

I mention it because I want to nip this in the bud. As @forester alluded, there's some political consideration and this is NOT the site to discuss the conspiracy theories that abound, as they so often do. I encourage those interested to use a search engine - and look for verifiable facts.

So, again, I'm gonna say that this is NOT the site for that. There are many sites where you can discuss these things. I'd personally suggest other forums or probably Reddit. It'd be off topic here and discussing it here will not benefit anyone.

Props to @forester for not elaborating.

 

[darry1966]

Software freedom is all well and good but when my wireless and other important firmware then I think a move like this makes it much easier for the end user.. For those that feel strongly about software freedom then removing non-free firmware and drivers is simple enough and there are distros designed to accommodate those users.

 

[wizardfromoz]

Totally concur, my friend from The Land of the Long White Cloud (or across the pond)

I struggled for a couple of years periodically trying to install Debian and get my wifi working, then joined here, and @arochester told us about the non-free .iso - I put it on, and voila, it worked fine.

Of course, I was adding more and more distros all the time, so was not short for a Linux to play with work with, but other users would have given it up for dead.

To make this change will allow a lot more people to experience the wonderful work that Ian Murdock engineered.

Wizard